New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez and wife indicted on federal charges

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Washington — Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and his wife have been indicted by a federal grand jury, according to court filings unsealed Friday, with prosecutors alleging the couple accepted lavish bribes in exchange for official acts.

The bribery offenses against Menendez stem from a yearslong public-corruption investigation by the Justice Department. The  indictment unsealed Friday charges Mendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, with three counts in connection to their relationship with three New Jersey businessmen.

Menendez, 69, and his wife face one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. The three New Jersey associates, identified as Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, are also named as co-defendants and face two counts.

Nadine Menendez and Hana were friends for several years before she began dating Menendez, according to the filing. A court-authorized search of Hana’s cellphone in November 2019 revealed “thousands” of text messages between him and Nadine Menendez, which prosecutors said were deleted from her phone.

Daibes, a longtime fundraiser for Menendez, was charged by the Justice Department in 2018 with obtaining loans under false pretenses from the New Jersey bank he founded, the indictment said.

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York are set to announce the charges during a press conference Friday morning, which will be streamed in the player above.

What does the indictment allege?

The 39-page indictment claims that beginning in 2018, Menendez and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using his power and influence as a U.S. senator to enrich and protect the three businessmen and benefit Egypt’s government.

The bribes allegedly included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a “low-or-no-show-job,” a luxury vehicle and “other things of value,” according to the charging document. 

Federal agents found more than $480,000 in cash during a search of the couple’s home in June 2022, “much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe,” as well as over $70,000 in a safe deposit box belonging to Nadine Menendez. They also found gold bars worth more than $100,000, according to the indictment.

Envelopes of cash were allegedly found in jackets with Menendez’s name that were hanging in his closet. Prosecutors included photos of some of the cash and two of the gold bars they say were seized:

screenshot-2023-09-22-at-9-32-49-am.png
Photos from the federal indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. Government exhibit
screenshot-2023-09-22-at-9-36-42-am.png
Photo from the unsealed indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez, accused of accepting bribes including $100,000 in gold bars. Two of the gold bars are shown here. Government exhibit

Federal agents conducting the search also found numerous items paid for by Hana, Daibes or Uribe, including home furnishings and a Mercedes-Benz convertible, according to the filing.

Prosecutors allege the “corrupt relationship” between Menendez and three businessmen began around 2018, when Hana and Nadine Menendez “worked to introduce Egyptian intelligence and military officials to” the senator with the goal of establishing a “corrupt agreement.” The deal called for Hana, with help from Daibes and Uribe, to provide bribes to the Menendezes in exchange for the senator using his posture to benefit the Egyptian government, Hana and others.

Menendez’s position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee gave him oversight of U.S. military aid to foreign countries, including Egypt. As chairman, he could place so-called “holds” on foreign military financing and military sales, which the State Department typically honored.

The indictment notes that Menendez, as chairman of the panel, “possessed substantial influence over foreign military sales and foreign military financing to Egypt.” 

The scheme tapped into Menendez’s power in the Senate, prosecutors said. Hana promised in part to hire Nadine Menendez for a “low-or-no-show job” at his company, IS EG Halal Certified, Inc., if the senator would “use his power and authority to facilitate” foreign military sales and financing to Egypt, which had been withheld for years, according to the charging document.

Sen. Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaks during a nomination hearing.
Sen. Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaks during a nomination hearing. Andrew Harnik / AP

The senator is accused of providing sensitive, nonpublic government information about the number of people serving at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to Nadine Menendez, before they were married, which she allegedly forwarded to Hana. Hana then shared the information with an unnamed Egyptian government official, according to the indictment. 

During a May 2018 dinner Hana hosted with Menendez at a high-end restaurant, the senator provided him with nonpublic information about military aid from the U.S. to Egypt, prosecutors said. After the dinner, Hana texted an Egyptian military official, “The ban on small arms and ammunition to Egypt has been lifted. That means sales can begin. That will include sniper rifles among other articles,” the indictment states.

Justice Department lawyers said Menendez also intervened to protect a monopoly for Hana’s company, IS EG Halal, which allegedly allowed Hana to pay the Menendezes and “advanced the scheme” by providing a revenue stream from which Hana could “make good on the bribe payments he had promised to” the senator and his wife, according to the indictment. But prosecutors said the monopoly led to increased costs for U.S. meat suppliers and others, and the U.S. government asked Egypt to reconsider of its grant of monopoly rights to IS EG Halal. 

In response to this intervention by the Department of Agriculture, Hana asked Menendez around May 2019 for help with addressing the government’s objections to his company’s monopoly, according to the indictment. The senator then “improperly advised and pressured” a high-level Department of Agriculture official and urged the department to stop interfering with IS EG Halal’s monopoly, prosecutors said.

The indictment notes that the unnamed official “did not accede” to Menendez’s demand, but IS EG Halal kept its monopoy.

He is also accused of using to use his influence and power as a senator to disrupt a criminal investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office related to Uribe. They allege he used that sway to recommend President Biden nominate a candidate to serve as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, someone who Menendez believed he could influence regarding the federal criminal prosecution of Daibes.

Menendez’s Senate office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The New Jersey senator was indicted in 2015 on roughly a dozen charges, including bribery and conspiracy, following accusations he accepted gifts from a wealthy Democratic donor in exchange for political favors. That case ended in a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a verdict after deliberating for more than a week.

Sources confirmed to CBS News in October 2022 that Menendez was under criminal investigation in New York.

First elected to Congress in 1992 to represent New Jersey’s 13th Congressional District, Menendez was appointed to the Senate in 2006 and elected to a full term later that year. In the course of his tenure in the Senate, Menedez rose to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a post he resumed when Democrats took control of the upper after the 2020 election.

This is a developing story and will be updated. 

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